Payday Fresh from the Factory

I pretty much love PayDay bars. They’re the original energy bar as far as I’m concerned. Long before I knew about glycemic indexes it was obvious that PayDay contained a lot of calories, but they’re slow and sustained. A nice hit of sugar and quick glucose and then along protein boost that keeps the tummy from growling and prevents that “I need a nap” feeling.

A PayDay bar, as the advertising tagline used to say, is mostly nuts. At its center is a log of inert and dense nougat. Covering that is a layer of usually firm caramel and then the whole thing is rolled in lightly salted peanuts.

The PayDay is one of the older candy bar brands in the country, first produced by Hollywood Brands, Inc. in 1932. During the depression bars like PayDay, that had both a hopeful name and high calorie count (mostly from fat and protein) were actually eaten as meal replacements. The brand has switched hands a few times (as shown in the Hershey’s timeline) but still remains unchanged, now made by Hershey’s.

The bars contain about 3.8 grams of protein per ounce, which is pretty high for a non-protein fortified bar. You can credit the high proportion of peanuts for that.

In the case of the Fresh from the Factory PayDay bars, they were in the fun-zie of .7 ounces (regular bars are 1.8 ounces). I like fun size bars, so this was a nice way to get the bars. (Kind of like the FFTF Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.) I’ve never had such a soft bar before, which is indeed a treat. I don’t mind the firmness of the usual bars, but the caramel is really much more present here than in any other bar I’ve had before. The nougat is soft and has a pleasant sweet fudgy texture. The peanuts taste like fresh roasted nuts and were all good quality (though not huge or anything).

PayDay bars currently come in a few different versions, including the Chocolatey Avalanche which replaced the limited edition real chocolate covered bar. I’ve tried the Honey Roasted PayDay and found it distractingly flavorful ... less about the nuts and more about the honey flavor. The original has survived for a reason, it’s good. It’s really one of the best Summer Bars there is. No chocolate so no worries about melting, long lasting energy to keep you going between meals.

The important thing is that the regular PayDay bar is just fine when it’s not factory fresh (a little time in a pocket or in a hot car to warm up and you can pretend).

Now I’m going to have to try one of these. I grew up on Pearson’s Salted Nut Rolls, but have never had a Payday. Which seems odd, since they are so similar and PSNR can be hard to find. Anyway, good job making me hungry at work!

I noticed that you keep mentioning that the protein in these and other nut bars gives you long-lasting energy. I just thought you should know that the body only uses protein for energy under EXTREME circumstances. Other than that, great review. Paydays are my absolute favorite. I might have to order some of these myself!!

My mom used to get these for us… they’d be gone the first day between me and my two brothers. (she’d eat one on the way home first!)

I loved them most back when I was working fulltime and going to school at night. Sometimes there was no time for a meal between the end of the workday and the beginning of school, so I’d get a payday bar out of the machine on campus.

My candy bar payday peanut caramel bar I LOVED IT, but there was not enough peanuts to my standards, as a rule the peanuts at least covers the caramel. there was almost (very sparingly) on the candy bar. Jo Garcia e-mail: sapo@.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)